I thought I would start a new thread dedicated to our beautiful Birds of Prey and hope you will share all your fabulous pics of them aswell ......
Please feel free to add your pics
I will kick it off with one of my regulars...Jock the Sprawk
(Pardon the Scottish Accent)
I like the last one Angus. Great action shot, and pretty sharp for such a dull day ...
90% luck, 5% field craft, 5% camera skills.
We were walking through a busy, urban park when I say to my old lady that I could see a bird of prey in a tree close to us.
I was dead surprised to see a Kestrel allowing humans to get so close to it. We were probably about 20 yards from it. What, though, was it looking at?
Turns out it was being mobbed by a Hooded Crow.
Yes, folks, last week we were stomping around Villa Borghese, Rome. The Kestrel was well camouflaged it its tree, while the Hooded Crow was attempting to drive it away.
I had my ancient Samsung compact digital camera. No way was I carrying around a DSLR or mirrorless camera around Rome. Thus photos weren't the best, but reasonable. Needed to say to the Kestrel 'Behind you.'
Anyway, I inched further towards the two birds until the Hooded Crow got nervous and flew off, leaving the Kestrel; who seemed interested in something on the ground.
I got within 10 yards of the bird. Amazing.
It finally decided I got too close form comfort, and decided to fly off briefly. I managed a couple more photos, before it flew off all together.
I did see the Kestrel a couple more times, flying around the Villa Borghese gardens, but it wasn't close enough. I'm still astonished how used it was to humans.
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr